Forensic report points to murder of São Paulo PM officer Gisele Santana
São Paulo's Institute of Criminalistics ruled out suicide and identified evidence of a second person's involvement in the death of the police officer. A lieutenant colonel charged with femicide remains in custody.
Forensic examination rules out suicide and indicates third party involvement in death of military police officer in São Paulo
The Institute of Criminalistics of São Paulo concluded, in a supplementary report dated Tuesday the 1st, that the death of Military Police officer Gisele Alves Santana was not suicide. According to cartacapital.com.br, the forensic experts identified material evidence of a second person's involvement in the incident.
Gisele was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head on 18 February, in the apartment she shared with Lieutenant Colonel Geraldo Leite Rosa Neto, her then-partner. Rosa Neto was in the building at the time of the incident, called for emergency services and initially reported the case as suicide. The incident came to be treated as a suspicious death, and the officer's family members contested this version from the outset.
The new report concludes that the evidence found at the scene is not consistent with the hypothesis that Gisele took her own life. The forensic experts state that there was intervention by a second person and that there are no material elements that contradict this theory.
Rosa Neto is charged with femicide and has been in custody since 18 March, when he was located in São José dos Campos, in the interior of the state. He is serving his imprisonment in the Romão Gomes Military Prison in the São Paulo capital. The accused's defence contests the charge of femicide.
The conclusions of the supplementary report reinforce earlier findings. Examinations conducted by the Medical Legal Institute had already identified injuries to the victim's face and neck, described as consistent with pressure caused by fingers and fingernail marks.
The investigation is also examining the interval between the gunshot and the emergency call. A neighbour stated that she heard the shot at 7:28 a.m. Records indicate that Rosa Neto reported the incident to the Military Police Operations Centre at 7:57 a.m., approximately 30 minutes later.
The lawyer José Miguel Silva Junior, who represents the family of the victim, stated to the Agência Brasil: "From the beginning, we have always worked with this angle [of femicide]. The other reports are evidence that there was no suicide. And the expert, when questioned, made it clear, in person, that Gisele would not have been able to commit suicide."
The family's representative also mentioned a photograph taken by the emergency services in which Gisele appears holding the weapon, describing the scene as atypical in cases of suicide.
A new hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, 8 July, when Rosa Neto is to be questioned.
Source: Google News BR — São Paulo